[Comprehensive] Kazuya's happy life

"You look surprised."

He also raised his eyebrows.

"Is it so unbelievable that Lian came to our game?"

"Uh...not at all." Tatsuya, who had regained his composure, shrugged, "I'm just curious, is Tsuruga very free now?"

——So free that you came to Kansai to watch their game?

"Of course not." Kazuya couldn't laugh or cry, "He has work to be done in Osaka, because the distance is relatively close and he just has time, so he just wanted to say that the opportunity is so rare that he might as well just watch a game..."

"Really." Tatsuya didn't seem very interested, "Do you need to prepare a family ticket for him?"

Kazuya shook his head, "Lian said no problem, Mr. She has friends who work at the stadium and can get internal tickets."

"Tsk. The world of adults."

"... Relying on the relationship of friends to get a little discount is not something only adults do, brother."

"It's like being willful and twisted isn't just a child's patent?"

"Well... technically speaking, yes."

"Then what's the point of growing up?"

"...Since when did we need to discuss such a serious topic? Brother, do you remember what the priority is?"

"Uh, what's up?"

"Hiding, hiding, interviewing."

"——! Don't say it earlier! Hurry up and leave!"

"...Isn't the person who has been struggling with it my brother →_→"

"Okay, my fault. I'll treat you to a cold drink later."

"I want ramen too."

"...Hey!"——Don't push yourself too far!

"I can't help it. I'm getting older. It's been almost two hours since I ate dinner, and I feel a little hungry."

"..." Saying this, it seems that there is indeed a bit...

Tatsuya suddenly felt his stomach growl as well.

While speeding up his pace and trotting side by side with Kazuya towards the back door, he lowered his voice:

"Okay, but you will be in charge of the supper tomorrow night."

"make a deal!"

——According to an agreement, the two brothers who successfully reached the back door slipped out of the hotel in a good mood.

***

The time is seven o'clock in the morning.

The location is Hanshin Koshien.

Kotaro Fujita walked all the way from the entrance of the stadium to the seats, and almost everyone around him nodded and greeted each other.

Everyone looks a little familiar, but that's not surprising.

This is the seat behind the home plate, and for the regulars of Koshien, it has a more friendly name called "Club Seating at Gate 8".

——The so-called "No. 8 Gate Club" refers to such a group of people who come to watch Koshien games every year without landing, and start queuing up to buy tickets from the night before the game, so that they can be the first batch Come in and take your position.

Therefore, if you are not a member of the "No. 8 Gate Club", it is actually difficult to sit in these positions behind the home plate during the game.Incidentally, and because of this, anyone who pays attention to the most photographed viewers at home plate during each game broadcast will be surprised to find that it is always the same group of people, namely " Members of the Gate 8 Club.

Fortunately, Kotaro Fujita is also a member of this group.

He is 32 years old this year and is a professional photographer. Because he is so obsessed with baseball and Koshien, he settled his home in Kobe City, not far from Nishinomiya City where Koshien Stadium is located, so that when there are games held On the first day of the day, I rushed to the stadium to queue up to buy tickets.

Today, however, he was very lucky to grab a seat in the sixth row, which is only one row away from the first five rows with the best viewing angles—this is probably the benefit of starting to line up early for admission.

As for the first five rows of seats?If you are not a "big shot" who can get the qualification to reserve a seat at the conference, then no matter how early you enter, it is impossible to get a seat.

As a qualified social person, Fujita has long passed the age where he would be filled with righteous indignation for this "unfairness".

Even because of his open-minded, cheerful and humorous conversation, he has almost all kinds of baseball players and allusions at his fingertips, and he can often grab seats in the sixth and seventh rows, which makes him successfully compete with some "people who can get reserved seat tickets" Big shot”, but they are no different from ordinary members of the “Gate 8 Club”. On the days when there are games, they almost never leave the game. When he was able to sit in the sixth and seventh rows, they would even give up the front row with a better view and deliberately sit in the fifth row to join him.

Today is no exception.

Not long after Fujita took his seat, someone sat down in the front seat.

"Good morning, Fujita."

"Ah...Grandpa Sakurai! You are early too."

Fujita bowed his head and bowed, not because of the old man's identity as the founder of the Sakurai Foundation, but because of the age of the other party.

"You chose the seat here today? It seems that you like both teams very much, and you are a little hesitant about which one to support."

Seeing the old man methodically taking out small speakers, plastic clapping hands, and small colorful flags from his backpack, Fujita guessed with a smile.

Although he is familiar with this old Mr. Sakurai, in fact, there are not many opportunities for Fujita to sit with the old man like he is now.

The old man is not a standard "8 club seat" lover, usually, he will choose the seat on the first base or the third base side to support his favorite team in a game (because these two parts The positions belong to the fans of the two teams respectively).

Only when he doesn't like the two teams, so he doesn't support either, or when he likes both teams and can't decide which one to support in the end, he will come to sit here behind the home plate. seat.

In view of the fact that the media, professionals, and baseball fans on both sides of today's game have good evaluations, Fujita guesses that the current situation belongs to the latter of the above two, and the old man Sakurai should still be hesitating to become a baseball player. Where are the supporters.

But I believe he will not be embarrassed for too long.

Because after this game is over, only one team will be able to stay on this stage.

The old man in the front row has prepared all the cheering props that may be used in the game and turned his head with a bit of distress:

"It's really hard to choose."

"Wako Industries, the runner-up for three times—although not consecutively, it has become a regional representative and broke into Koshien in seven of the past ten years, and its strength is very strong."

"Perhaps Fujita, you have heard of their captain Tsuchiya-kun?"

"That's one of the best four bats in two years!"

"His style is very distinct -- he swings so hard, and a lot of the time, as long as he gets the angle right, home runs seem to be very easy to hit in his hands."

"I like the ruthlessness of this kid, and I also like the team style that Heguang showed before. If it weren't for Oji Commercial, maybe I would become their supporter."

"And Mingqing..."

The old man pondered for a while when he said this.

"Although it is a new team that entered Koshien this year, no one has heard of their names before, and you know, the team that entered Koshien for the first time, if they are not lucky enough to be drawn in the first round The hollow lottery will almost wipe out the entire army in the first round, and in the nearly 100-year history since the summer game began, this is almost without exception."

"Although the newspapers gave their leading pitcher, the Uesugi Brothers, a higher evaluation than I imagined, but before confirming it with my own eyes, I believe that no one who really understands baseball will blindly listen to the media's evaluation of the players. "

"And they were lucky enough to get a first-round bye."

"This makes many people really look sideways at their luck, but on the other hand, they doubt their strength even more-did they really reach the finals by their own strength? It's really not that lucky ingredients in it?"

"Oh, of course, of course—I know what you're trying to say."

"The second round quickly silenced a lot of people who had that idea."

"Although their opponents are not traditional strong teams like Wako Industries or Ochi Commercial, they can barely be regarded as regular visitors to Koshien, and they will have a chance to reach the finals every two or three years."

"But we all saw the results of that game."

"Mingqing completely defeated the opponent."

"Fujita, you were there at the time, and you, like me, saw those two kids—I mean the Uesugi brothers—throwing the ball, right?"

"I'm not afraid to tell you without embarrassment, my whole body trembled at that time!"

"How can there be a kid in the first year of high school who can throw such a ball that makes people...I don't know how to describe it. In short, it makes people stand up on their arms?"

"Mingqing may be a very ordinary team, and their strength is not weak, but they are definitely not very strong."

"But with the Uesugi brothers, everything is different."

"I haven't met a pitcher who makes me feel that way in years."

"So even if I like Wako's style very much, I can't say that I am completely on their side in this game."

The old man Sakurai said, heaving a long sigh:

"Perhaps, as some reports say, the era of the new generation of players has finally arrived."

Fujita nodded thoughtfully.

His perception of the two participating teams in today's game is similar to old man Sakurai.

But probably because of the professional preference of the photographer, he actually prefers Ming Qing, who has the Uesugi brothers, twin ace pitchers who are far superior to ordinary people in terms of strength and appearance, compared to Waguang, who is a rough guy on all staff.

But there is no need to elaborate on this point, after all, even in this age of looking at faces, there are still people like old man Sakurai who simply talk about things as they are.

Thinking like this, Fujita lowered his head and focused on playing with the professional-looking camera in his hand——

anyway.

In short, I hope to take more photos today that make me feel satisfied.

***

Just as Fujita lowered his head and focused on the camera, another spectator sat next to Mr. Sakurai.

It seems that he has a strong resistance to the midsummer sun, the baseball cap on his head is pressed down very low, and a pair of dark sunglasses that almost cover most of his face is placed on his face.

The black tight-fitting t-shirt vaguely outlines the beautiful and smooth muscle lines between the chest and abdomen, but the light-colored casual shirt covered outside the t-shirt softens this sense of strength very well, making him look elegant and graceful mild.

The old man Sakurai didn't pay much attention to the fact that he had an extra "companion" by his side, but after noticing the aura around this new companion, the old man who built a whole consortium from scratch immediately squinted. Eye--

Yo.

This kid... looks a little unfamiliar.

It’s not that the old man is proud, because he has the habit of sitting in the supporter’s camp whichever team he supports, and when he is uncertain which side to support, he will come to the seat behind the home plate, so everyone who can get the stadium Not to mention 90.00%, more than [-]% of the people who qualified for the "special seats" in the first five rows should know each other, or be familiar with each other.

But the one sitting next to him now?

I really have no impression at all.

But it is not difficult to understand.

Because looking at the other party, he doesn't look like a regular visitor to Koshien——

Not to mention that the old man Sakurai brought all kinds of small props, this person didn't even bring the most basic drinking water. Obviously, he didn't know that if a wonderful baseball game was really extended, the duration could be prolonged to such a degree How difficult it is for people not to prepare drinking water.

The old man looked at the time and found that it was not half past seven o'clock. If he went out to buy some bread and mineral water for emergency, it would be too late. So after thinking about it, he decided to kindly remind the other party:

"Young man, you can't do this."

With a light cough, the old man spoke seriously.

"you are……?"

The other party turned around with some hesitation.

The old man Sakurai sighed and shook his head, "Just a nosy old man. Brother, is this your first time to watch a game at Koshien?"

"……Yes."

"No wonder. Let me tell you..."

The old man of Sakurai, Barabara, told the other party the basic precautions, and stroked his beard proudly in the eyes of the other party from surprise to understanding and then to gratitude:

"...In short, there are still many things to pay attention to when watching a baseball game. For beginners, it is best to investigate and make sufficient preparations beforehand, otherwise you will not be able to fully enjoy the fun of watching the game live."

"I see. Thank you for your advice. I'm sorry if you don't mind."

The other party nodded to him.

The old man waved his hand with a smile:

"Go, go. If you go now, you should be back before the game starts."

The other party said goodbye politely, stood up and quickly walked along the passage to the entrance and exit not far away.

And at this time, Fujita, who finally pulled his attention back from the camera, just happened to raise his head, seeing the back of the man leaving...

"what?"

He frowned suspiciously——

Why do you feel that the tall young man who just left looks a little... familiar?